Cindy McCain, the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, said that the war in Sudan has shattered the lives of millions and created the largest displacement crisis in the world, warning that it now risks making Sudan the largest hunger crisis in the world unless the fighting stops.

McCain pointed out in a statement today, Wednesday, distributed by the organization in Geneva, that Darfur experienced the largest hunger crisis in the world 20 years ago, and the world rallied to respond to it, but the people of Sudan today have become forgotten.

The UN official confirmed that the lives of millions, peace, and stability in the entire region are at stake.

The international organization's statement mentioned that more than 25 million people across Sudan, South Sudan, and Chad are trapped in a spiral of deteriorating food security, at a time when the program cannot obtain enough emergency food aid for the desperate communities in Sudan besieged by fighting, due to ongoing violence and interference by the warring parties. It mentioned that about 90% of people are currently facing emergency levels of hunger in Sudan, and they are stuck in areas largely inaccessible to the program.

McCain, who concluded a visit to South Sudan today, pointed out that humanitarian aid has been further disrupted after authorities canceled the necessary permits for truck convoys across the border, forcing the organization to halt operations from Chad to Darfur. The program official warned that while more people flee to South Sudan and Chad, the humanitarian response has reached a breaking point.

The organization's statement mentioned that newly displaced people arriving in South Sudan constitute about 35% of those facing catastrophic levels of hunger, the highest possible level, adding that one in five children at transit centers at the main border crossing suffer from malnutrition.

The program official stressed the urgent need for unimpeded access to Sudan to address the escalating food insecurity, which will have significant long-term impacts on the region, alongside injecting funding to respond to the spread of the humanitarian crisis to neighboring countries.

McCain affirmed that a ceasefire and lasting peace are the only ways to reverse the course and prevent disaster.